International Trade committee  Well, I don't believe “better” is an option. Would it be nice to have the same? I don't know the fine details of that agreement. In fact, I know that some in the U.S. auto industry don't think the U.S. got enough in that provision. But it was what the U.S. was able to negotiate.

International Trade committee  Regarding services, the example that first pops to mind is that we have world-class exporters in services in the insurance industry. The two that are best known are Sun Life and Manulife. They have been extremely successful in a number of Asian countries, and one would believe th

International Trade committee  I will.

International Trade committee  I think you're absolutely right. Undertaking these negotiations has provided us with the opportunity to put some non-tariff barriers on the table and try to deal with them if we can. In the auto industry, for example, boatloads of cars are coming over from Korea. There's no reaso

International Trade committee  Thank you. I hope I've written down all the points you've made. You state that it's important to have a fair agreement, and we would agree with that. How you measure “fair” tends to be very different if you are on the winning side of the equation from when you're on the losing s

International Trade committee  I'm not sure if I understand your question. Do you mean if they ratify it and we don't have an agreement?

International Trade committee  I'm not sure what the plan B would be. If the U.S. ratifies, and it becomes easier to manufacture and ship out of the U.S. than out of Canada, that will have an impact on where some companies put their resources and where they put their jobs. So that's part of what we need to wei

International Trade committee  It's important to note that this was from 2006, so it was more at the beginning of the negotiations that this resolution was debated and passed. We believe that the government has reached out in consultations. There have been notices in the Canada Gazette. They've definitely reac

International Trade committee  Yes, both parties win, absolutely.

International Trade committee  I believe a free trade agreement would be a cornerstone to leverage additional activities for working against non-tariff barriers. For example, the fact that we're negotiating this agreement has put some pressure on the Koreans to open up their market for beef. So part of it is t

International Trade committee  There are some real opportunities with Korea. For example, insurance services is an area I think we would be able to do well with. The RIM BlackBerry, which is wrapped around a Canadian good, has opportunities. There are opportunities also in some of our commodity products, wheth

International Trade committee  The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has not received any such support, nor have we asked for it. We have encouraged the government to continue to put more resources into the DFAIT budget. The global commerce strategy, for example, was a very good start but not with sufficient money

International Trade committee  That's right.

International Trade committee  The Koreans are tough negotiators. They've been tough negotiators with the U.S. and Europe and everyone else. Just because they're tough negotiators doesn't mean it isn't possible to get a good deal. I think it would be premature to walk away at this point and move to another mar

International Trade committee  Thank you. No, it wasn't that we need to do more studies. The time for that has passed. What I was referring to when I said we need to know more is that we need to know exactly what would be in the agreement, because there are still some unfinished provisions, and they're in ve